Special Research Fund – Doctoral Scholarships for Candidates from Developing Countries – call 2020 : ( Deadline : 04 February 2020 )

Special Research Fund – Doctoral Scholarships for Candidates from Developing Countries – call 2020 : ( Deadline : 04 February 2020 )

Applying for a PhD scholarship & PhD admission at Ghent university

Prior to their scholarship application all applicants need the explicit commitment of a Ghent University professor who will act as their personal PhD supervisor.

If you need to approach a Ghent university professor please browse the list of faculties and research topics available on our research directory.

All international PhD candidates need to complete  an admission procedure during which the academic aspects (equivalence of your degree, research proposal, and language skills) will be evaluated. This admission for a doctoral study does not guarantee any funding so it can be started after the result of the scholarship application is known.

Duration and start date of the scholarship:

• The earliest starting date of the scholarship at Ghent University is 1 October 2020;
• The candidate obtains a scholarship for 24 months to study at Ghent university (North);
• 24 months of the PhD research/study must be cofinanced at the partner university in the South;
• Students are obliged to divide the Ghent University scholarship into minimum 2 different research stays in Ghent (North) and need to return at least once to their home university (South)  in between (= ‘sandwich- schedule’);
• The following mobility scheme is mandatory:

1. Students need to start and end with a research stay of minimum 3 up to maximum 12 months in Ghent.
2. The first research stay in Ghent needs to start between 1 October 2020 and 28 February 2021.
3. At least 24 months of locally funded research stay in the South must be scheduled in between the first and last research stay in Ghent.

• The average duration of PhD studies in Belgium (Ghent University) is 4 years.

Who can apply for this scholarship

• The proposals must be jointly submitted by a candidate, a promoter (supervisor) at Ghent University and a supervisor at the partner university.
• No restrictions are imposed on the field of research, nevertheless  preference will be given to topics that are relevant for development

Development relevance relates to the extent to which the proposals’ objectives are consistent with beneficiaries’ requirements, country needs, synergy opportunities, global priorities and partners’ and donors’ policies.

• Applications must be submitted on the application forms provided for this purpose.

The Research Council makes a selection of the applications based in part on the recommendations obtained from members of the Council for Development Cooperation.

• Selection criteria:

Please note that this call is highly competitive. The success rate for this call is 19% (based on the results of the previous calls 2017-2019). The first selection criterion in this call are the study results of the candidate (both Bachelor and Master Level).

1. the qualifications of the applicant;
2. the doctoral project;
3. the relevance of the research topic for development & capacity building
4. the scientific/scholarly potential of the promoter’s research group(s); the partnership between Ghent University and the local institute; the scientific/scholarly potential of the local institute.

Scholarship funding

• PhD scholarship at Ghent University  (24 months).
• 24 months of PhD research will be executed at the partner university in the South, for which no funding is provided through this scholarship. This part of the research (24 months) must be funded (e.g. local PhD scholarship or salary) at the partner institution in the South.
• The Ghent University promoter receives a bench fee of €310/per month of research in Ghent + €8000 travel budget to cover (part of) the operational costs, as well as part of the travelling costs of the student and both the Ghent University and the local promoter.

Results scholarship selection

• As of 15 May 2020 results will be published online.
• https://edit.ugent.be/en/research/funding/bof/.htm > results

Deadline scholarship applications

• 4 February 2020

Further information on the scholarship

• contact: BOF@UGent.be
• Call 2020 (Word-document) – Call 2020 (PDF-document) 
• Application form 2020 (Word-document)
• Advice promoter (Word-document) (in Dutch, to be filled in by the promoter)

• Country List 2020 (PDF-document)

CLICK HERE TO APPLY